About the LGBTQ Humanist Alliance

The LGBTQ Humanist Alliance, a project of the American Humanist Association, is a forum for queer humanists and allies to come together, exchange ideas, build community, and work towards social progress for LGBTQ people.

Mission

The LGBTQ Humanist Alliance seeks to cultivate safe and affirming communities, promote humanist values, and achieve full equality and social liberation of LGBTQ persons.

There are numerous LGBTQ rights issues that demand attention. This includes social issues that disproportionately impact queer communities like health care deprivations, homelessness, and violence targeting queer and trans people. The LGBTQ Humanist Alliance is dedicated to realizing a more inclusive humanism that confronts these issues through raising awareness.

We pursue our mission by working together at the national level to build a thriving grassroots network of local affiliates devoted to compassionate activism. Through grassroots activism, we work to raise awareness, advance social progress of queer communities, and build relationships with other corresponding and allied communities. This grassroots effort also seeks to prepare projects at the national level to be executed at the local level in furtherance of our values and aspirations.

Leadership – Advisory Council

The Advisory Council is the leadership core of the LGBTQ Humanist Alliance. This team is responsible for strategic advice and program development to sustain and grow the LGBTQHA mission.

Diane Burkholder, co-chair

Diane is a social advocate for misrepresented and marginalized communities, particularly focused on issues concerning young adults, LGBTQ, people of color, and individuals living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. She is co-founder of Kansas City Freethinkers of Color and a co-founder of One Struggle KC, a coalition of Kansas City activists seeking to connect the struggles of oppressed Black communities, locally and globally.

Kevin Jagoe

Kevin is the marketing and development director for The Humanist Institute and former coordinator for the LGBTQ Humanist Alliance. He is a graduate of the Humanist Institute (Class 17) with a Certificate in Humanist Studies and Leadership and is the Youth Director with the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis. He helped found Hamline University’s Values in Action Program, the first to bring the program developed by the Humanist Community at Harvard to another campus.

Robert Jones, Jr.

Robert Jones, Jr. is a writer from Brooklyn, NY. He earned both his B.F.A. in creative writing and M.F.A. in fiction from Brooklyn College. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Gawker, The Grio, and the Feminist Wire. He is the creator of the social justice social media community, Son of Baldwin, which explores sociopolitical issues from the perspective of LGBTQ+ people of color and can be found on Facebook, Google Plus, Instagram, Medium, Tumblr, and Twitter. His first novel is in the revision stage and he’s currently working on the second.

Trav Mamone

Trav is a bisexual genderqueer humanist blogger who writes about the intersections of social justice and secular humanism at Bi Any Means. They also contribute to Queereka and host the Bi Any Means Podcast.

Andy Semler

Andy is a genderqueer humanist activist and organizer for the Warsaw [Indiana] LGBT and Supporters Community. Their ongoing project Our Stories, Our History: Gay & Trans Experiences in Kosciusko County aims to connect the people of rural Indiana with oftentimes overlooked narratives. They share their personal thoughts at Nerd is my Gender.

Taylor Malone

Taylor is a non-binary trans person who grew up in a conservative, religious family in Mississippi. They now live in Seattle where they work and volunteer for non-profits that focus on supporting youth, protecting reproductive justice, and providing support for LGBTQ individuals.

Kayley Whalen

Kayley is the Digital Strategies and Social Media Manager for the National LGBTQ Taskforce, a social justice activist, and writer who works at the intersections of transgender issues, humanism, drug policy reform and HIV/AIDS harm reduction. She also volunteers as a member of the Communications Committee for the Ingersoll Gender Center.

Noelle George

Noelle is a queer secular humanist activist and the executive director of Foundation Beyond Belief. In addition to her work at FBB, Noelle is the founder of Mothers Beyond Belief and is on the advisory board of Secular Woman.